Different requirements however apply to the effective establishment of the mechanical coupling of the pipe members and the electrical connections between. Satisfactory mechanical coupling can be achieved with quite rough handling of the pipe members, without careful alignment and without great concern for cleanliness. In an offshore drilling environment, the members of a drill string or of a production pipe stack can be assembled by stabbing the end of one member into an end of the other and then completing the mechanical connection. Electrical connection however requires rather precise engagement of contacts, which should be checked for damage and which should be clean, to ensure minimum resistance at the connection, before the connection is made.
There is known from FR-A-2 440 465 a pipe system of the kind comprising two pipe members having respective interengageable connecting means by which the pipe members are mechanically connected together in end-to-end relationship, electrical conductor means extending within each of the pipe members, and electrical connection means at the connected ends of the pipe members establishing electrical connection between the electrical conductor means of the connected pipe members.